Posts tagged ‘Melanoma Market’

Pharmacy Today publishes Women's Health and Melanoma articles by Pieter Droppert

August 26th, 2011

Daedalus

The August 2011 issue of Pharmacy Today (the monthly magazine of the American Pharmacists Association) contains two articles written by Pieter Droppert.

In an update on what’s happened in women’s health over the past year, Pieter highlights the Institute of Medicine report on Women’s Health Research. A key finding of this report is that medical research has neglected the needs of women with the exception of those associated with reproduction.

Another topic covered in the update on Women’s Health was the clinical trial results from use of the aromatase inhibitor exemestane as a chemo-preventative agent. Exemestane use reduced the risk of invasive breast cancer by 65% compared to placebo.

Pieter also reported on news from ASCO 2011, and how new drugs such as ipilimumab (YERVOY™) and vemurafenib (Zelboraf™) offer hope to patients with metastatic melanoma.

You can read both articles on the Pharmacy Today website (free online access).

Zelboraf (vemurafenib) approved in metastatic melanoma

August 25th, 2011

Daedalus

Last week the hot news was the anticipated FDA approval of vemurafenib (Zelboraf™) in metastatic melanoma for patients with BRAF V600E mutations.

Sally Church on Pharma Strategy Blog has written extensively about new products in development for metastatic melanoma. As Sally notes in her recent blog post discussing the Zelboraf™ approval:

“the good news is that oncologists now have two new agents for treatment in 2011, which is very much a grand cru year for melanoma.”

A little known fact is that Sally is a former finalist in the UK Daily Telegraph newspaper’s wine taster of the year competition, so it is perhaps not surprising to see some wine references in her writing.

If you are interested in the price of Zelboraf™ – you can find it on Pharma Strategy Blog where Sally analyses the cost of a course of treatment and compares this to the price for ipilimumab.

Pieter Droppert’s write-up of the 2011 ASCO annual meeting plenary data on metastatic melanoma was recently published in the august issue of Pharmacy Today.

How resistance occurs to BRAF inhibitors such as PLX 4032 (vemurafenib)

May 13th, 2011

Daedalus

Icarus Consultants’ oncology expert, Sally Church has written extensively about BRAF inhibitors, and why melanoma patients develop resistance to PLX4032.

In a post on Pharma Strategy Blog, Sally reviews further research on mechanisms of resistance to BRAF inhibitors such as PLX 4032 (vemurafenib). Published in OncoTarget (an open access cancer journal), the article describes ERK dependent and ERK independent methods by which resistance occurs.

Sally notes that “as our knowledge of the science of metastatic melanoma improves, so do our opportunities for therapeutic intervention and improvement in outcomes.”

Metastatic melanoma is expected to be a hot topic at the forthcoming annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) that Icarus Consultants will be attending.

You can read more on Pharma Strategy Blog.

Understanding why melanoma patients develop resistance to PLX4032

April 25th, 2011

Daedalus

Targeted therapies for metastatic melanoma such as PLX4032 (vemurafenib) have shown dramatic effects in patients. However, resistance to BRAF inhibitors such as PLX4032 soon develops. The result is a need to understand how resistance occurs due to cross talk and how to overcome this through a rational drug combination strategy.

Sally Church on Pharma Strategy Blog delves into the topic of BRAF resistance with demonstrable enthusiasm. In her insightful post she discusses data presented in the plenary session at the recent annual meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) by Levi Garraway from Dana Farber.

As Sally discusses in some detail, the research identified a novel mutation in the downstream kinase MEK1 that may be the reason why patients become resistant to PLX4032.

You can watch Dr Garraway’s presentation as a free AACR webcast and can read more about the important implications of this research for melanoma new product development on Pharma Strategy blog.

Insights into BRAF resistance in melanoma lead to potential new drug targets

April 19th, 2011

Daedalus

Melanoma is a common form of skin cancer in which 60% of patients have the V600E mutation of the serine/threonine kinase B-RAF (BRAF)

Melanomas with a V600E BRAF mutation are dependent on mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) and have been shown to respond to inhibition of the RAF and MEK signaling pathway.

PLX4032 (vemurafenib) is a B-RAF(V600E) inhibitor that has achieved some spectacular results.

However, resistance to BRAF inhibitors such as PLX4032 occurs, so understanding the mechanism of BRAF resistance is key to finding new druggable targets that may overcome this.

Sally Church has written one of her most insightful posts of 2011 on Pharma Strategy Blog that discusses recent research on BRAF resistance to melanoma.

In a post entitled, “COT drives resistance to PLX4032 through MAPK reactivation”, Sally discusses results published in a Nature Letter.

She also reviews the recent plenary talk by Keith Flaherty at the recent American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) annual meeting and provides insights on the next generation of BRAF inhibitors.

Sally concludes that it looks like “metastatic melanoma will be a hot topic at ASCO.” You can read more about new products in development for melanoma on Pharma Strategy Blog.